A REVIEW has found that a diversity panel at the Metropolitan Police overturned vetting refusals that later allowed officers and staff to commit crimes including rape, assault and drug offences.
The Met set up the panel in 2019 after identifying that applicants rejected through vetting were disproportionately from ethnic minority and under-represented groups.
The panel reviewed 505 failed applications and overturned 114 refusals. More than one in five of those approved — 25 individuals — later committed misconduct or criminal offences, The Times reported.
The review highlighted the case of Cliff Mitchell, 26, a Met constable convicted of 13 rapes against two victims, including a child. Senior officers said he should not have been recruited.
Mitchell was arrested in April 2017 following a complaint of a non-recent child rape. In August 2019, no further action was taken. He applied to join the Met in 2020 and was initially blocked, but the decision was later overturned by the panel. He began training in August 2021, The Times reported. The panel has since been disbanded.
The review of vetting and recruitment between 2013 and 2023 found the force departed from standard practices and failed to carry out thousands of checks, The Times reported.
At least 5,073 officers and staff were not properly vetted. Another 3,338 received only limited renewal checks.
The report said some decisions resulted in “police perpetrated harm” and damaged public trust. No individual has been held personally accountable.
Rachel Williams, a Met assistant commissioner, said: “A number of individual decisions were made over ten years … this is a compound effect of a series of decision makings, which has widened the level of risk.”
The home secretary has ordered an independent inspection into the Met’s recruitment and vetting standards.
